The Ides of March: A Day of Protest

On March 15, 2019, over 1 million students skipped classes to protest inaction on climate change. These protests occurred across the globe from North America to Australia.

This movement was spurred by a courageous 16-year-old student, Greta Thunberg, who is now being nominated for a Nobel Prize. I was able to attend one of these protests at both the University of Florida and the City Hall in Gainesville.

The photo above refers to UF’s investments in fossil fuels and companies such as: Coal India, Adani Enterprises, Duke Energy, Exxon, BP, Shell, and Chevron. As a student of a university that hopes to become LEED Gold Certified by 2030, I am disappointed to see where much of UF’s investments lie.

In addition to the protest on campus, I was also able to attend the protest outside Gainesville’s city hall. There were a handful of speakers both young and old alike calling for action from our local government.

While the ban on single-use plastic is being ushered in here, there is still much more to be done. Call your local officials, write them, organize a protest, do something to make your voice heard. Our planet doesn’t need us but we sure need it. We don’t have much time left to fix our egregious wrongs.